Twins Minor League Report (4/14): Varland Victorious and Mussels Mighty

[Ted Schwerzler]

While the St. Paul Saints we’re snowed out or postponed because of wind, you can take your pick, the rest of Minnesota’s system was in action this evening. Louie Varland shoved for the Wind Surge, and the Mighty Mussels walked it off.

TRANSACTIONS

• St. Paul added both RHP Tyler Bashlor and RHP Jake Petricka to their active roster.
• Fort Myers added RHP Cody Stashak on an MLB rehab assignment

SAINTS SENTINEL 

The Saints were scheduled to play Indianapolis after being no-hit last night, and it would’ve been a perfect opportunity to get the bad taste out of their mouths. Unfortunately the Minnesota weather in April continues to be a disappointment, and a snowy day with temperatures in the low 30s also brought significant wind. The game will now be made up as a doubleheader on May 25.

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Wichita 7, NW Arkansas 1
Box Score

Wichita gave the ball to Louie Varland tonight and he certainly made it difficult to take back. Working 5 and 2/3 innings, Varland gave up just two hits while punching out ten and walking one. After a tough 2022 debut, he was back to dominance.

It wasn’t just Varland that did the dominating tonight for the Wind Surge either. The offense came through in a big way and it started from the jump. In the 1st inning Spencer Steer ripped a triple to score Austin Martin, who made his first start in the Twins organization at second base tonight. In the 3rd inning it was Steer again, this time launching a homer to drive in Cole Sturgeon.

Wichita piled on in the 6th inning after forcing NW Arkansas into a bad spot. Chris Williams drew a bases loaded walk before a Martin fielder’s choice plated another. Then Sturgeon came through with a two-run double and the 7-0 rout was on. Despite giving up a run in the 7th inning, this one was never in doubt for Wichita.

KERNELS NUGGETS
Game 1: Cedar Rapids 8, Quad Cities 5 (F/7)
Box Score

Playing a doubleheader after a postponement yesterday, Cedar Rapids turned to Sean Mooney in game one. He went three innings while allowing two runs on three hits and striking out seven. Although it was a shorter appearance, the damage was done only after the Kernels had six runs of their own.

Charles Mack started the scoring by driving in Seth Gray on a 2nd inning single. Will Holland then followed his lead and plated both Alerick Soularie and Mack. Up 3-0, Mack continued built on his strong night with a three-run blast to left center.

Quad Cities clawed back in the bottom half adding two, and then tacked on another in the 5th. Cedar Rapids looked for distance again quickly however, and they found in the form of an Anthony Prato sac fly, and Christian Encarnacion-Strand single. Now up 8-3 heading into the bottom of the 6th inning, a five-run lead provided enough buffer as the River Bandits did add two before this one was over.

Both Gray and Mack put up three-hit efforts in game one. Mack pushed his season OPS to a ridiculous 1.768, which surpasses even the hot start from Encarnacion-Strand.

Game 2: Quad Cities 4, Cedar Rapids 3 (F/7)
Box Score

Wanting to keep the perfect record going, the Kernels gave Casey Legumina the ball in game two. He worked 3 and 2/3 innings while allowing four earned runs on four hits. He did strike out five while walking two.

Prato started the scoring in the nightcap with a two-run blast that brought Wille Joe Garry Jr. home as well, but the lead was erased in the 4th inning. Quad Cities scored four runs to double up Cedar Rapids.

Not giving up, Gray continued his hot night with a solo shot in the 6th inning that halved the lead. Cedar Rapids made things interesting after Garry Jr. moved to second base in the 7th inning following a walk, but that was as far as the rally came. It took six games, but Cedar Rapids took their first loss of the season.

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 8, Jupiter 7
Box Score

Pierson Ohl took the ball tonight for the Mighty Mussels and was lifted after 57 pitches. In his three innings of work he allowed six runs (five earned), on seven hits while punching out two. The longball was the story as he gave up two that left the yard.

After trading runs in the first inning, Fort Myers seeing Noah Miller scamper home on a wild pitch, the game was broken open in the 3rd inning. Ohl surrendered a pair of homers allowing Jupiter a five-run lead.

Fort Myers continued to battle though, and their next run would come on another error. Avoiding a pickoff and seeing the ball squirt away, Emmanuel Rodriguez raced across the plate in the 6th inning. After giving that tally back in the 7th inning, Dillon Tatum crushed his first professional homer, a three-run shot scoring Noah Cardenas and Kyler Fedko.

Down by two headed to their final at bats, the Mighty Mussels muscled up. Noah Miller led off the inning with a walk, and then was followed by Rodriguez. Cardenas was plunked and the bases were loaded. After a Fedko strikeout, Kala’i Rosario grounded into what should’ve been a game-ending double play. Instead Jupiter threw it away allowing two runs to cross the plate. 

After shutting down the Hammerheads in the top half of the 10th inning Fort Myers loaded the bases with one out in the bottom half. Jupiter attempted a 1-2-3 double-play on a ball back to the pitcher but the catcher threw it away and allowed Dylan Neuse to score the winning run anyways.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Pitcher of the Day – Louie Varland (Wichita) - 5.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 10 K
Hitter of the Day – Charles Mack (Cedar Rapids) - 3-4, 3 R, 4 RBI, HR(1)

PROSPECT SUMMARY
We will again keep tabs on the Twins top prospects. You’ll probably read about them in the team sections, but if they aren’t there, you’ll see how they did here. 

Here’s a look at how the current Twins Daily Top 20 performed:

#1 - Austin Martin (Wichita) - 1-5, 2 R, RBI, 2B, K
#2 - Royce Lewis (St. Paul) - No Game
#3 - Jose Miranda (St. Paul) - No Game
#4 - Jordan Balazovic (St. Paul) - IL
#5 - Joe Ryan (Minnesota) - No Game
#6 - Matt Canterino (Wichita) - Did Not Pitch
#7 - Jhoan Duran (Minnesota) - No Game
#8 - Simeon Woods Richardson (Wichita) - Did Not Pitch
#9 - Josh Winder (Minnesota) - No Game
#10 - Noah Miller (Ft. Myers) - 1-5, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K
#11 - Gilberto Celestino (Minnesota) - No Game
#12 - Matt Wallner (Wichita) - 0-5, 3 K
#13 - Cole Sands (St. Paul) - No Game
#14 - Louie Varland (Wichita) - 5.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 10 K
#15 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Ft. Myers) - 2-2, 2 R, 3 BB
#16 - Ronny Hendriquez (Development List) - N/A
#17 - Blayne Enlow (Wichita) - IL 
#18 - Spencer Steer (Wichita) - 2-4, R, 3 RBI, 3B
#19 - Edouard Julien (Wichita) - IL
#20 - Steve Hajjar (Ft. Myers) - Did Not Pitch

FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS
Indianapolis @ St. Paul (6:37 PM CST) - LHP Devin Smeltzer
Wichita @ NW Arkansas (7:05PM CST) - RHP Simeon Woods Richardson 
Cedar Rapids @ Quad Cities (6:30 PM CST) - LHP Brent Headrick 
Jupiter @ Fort Myers (6:00 PM CST) - TBD

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Thursday’s games! It sure is exciting to have all four Twins full-season affiliates back and playing. 

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[roger]

Reading today’s box scores, kept wondering where Urbina is?  Is he injured?  Or in EST?

[stringer bell]

With the Twins and St. Paul not playing, not too many top prospects were in action last night. It is nice to see that only three of the prospects are on the injured list and only one on it for a long term. 

Good to see the Surge get a win and also see Varland pitch well.

[Dman]

Steer is the only AA bat that seems even remotely ready to start the season.  Wallner has been miserable at the plate with a 50% K rate.  Martin is off to a slow start as well. With Julien out it isn't surprising this team has trouble scoring runs.  Thankfully Varland was back to doing his thing. Striking guys out and going almost 6 innings.

Mooney got his typical number of K's but he was wilder than I remember from last year.  First game out and he seemed to get better the longer he was out there.  Cedar Rapids is building a strong lineup with Prato, CES, Mack and Gray all with over 1.000 OPS's.  If Soularie and Morales get going that is going to be a tough lineup.

Legumina looked really good the first couple of innings, but  per usual fell apart late. These type of games continue to reinforce my belief that he is a better reliever than starter.  We will see if he gains better stamina as the season moves on.  He has the stuff it is just a matter of how long he can keep it going.

Was hoping Ohl was going to do a little better than he did.  After watching him in one of Seth's interviews he seems like a mentally tough young man.  This is his first taste and I am sure he will get better was just hoping for him to be solid from the get go.

Emmanual Rodriguez is having a great start to his season.  He is doing much better than I ever thought he would for a 19 year old in a tough A ball environment.  While his 389 batting average is really good the more impressive stat is that his OBP is over 200 points higher at .621.  The big knock on him last year was the lack of patience and his K rate.  He currently has more walks than strikeout's.  If he maintains that with his contact skills he is going to be a really, really good player.  Pretty excited about this kid right now.  Long ways to go as pitchers adjust to his approach but just the fact that he can do it bodes well for his future.  Also it looks like one of the problems he is having is pitchers not throwing him strikes because he is one of the few players in the lineup that can hurt a pitcher by taking him deep.  They seem more inclined to work around him.  If Fort Meyers can find some better bats to stack behind him maybe he can get more balls to hit.

[Seth Stohs]

1 hour ago, roger said:

Reading today’s box scores, kept wondering where Urbina is?  Is he injured?  Or in EST?

He's in EST. I haven't been able to find out why... Possible he's just not as ready as the guys up there. 

[Seth Stohs]

The Twins released Stevie Berman... Saw that he signed with the Blue Jays. 

Once the team signed Chance Sisco and Jose Godoy cleared waivers, it only made sense. 

[jmlease1]

Terrific start by Varland. He's one of the prospects I'm most curious about this season: if he keeps rolling in AA that's really good news for the franchise. You're facing significantly more advanced hitters at that level and the lineups are deeper and more experienced. Love seeing the 10Ks in 5 2/3 and how well he bounced back after a tough first start. Really looking forward to seeing where he is at the end of May.

[Seth Stohs]

58 minutes ago, Dman said:

 Thankfully Varland was back to doing his thing. Striking guys out and going almost 6 innings.

Mooney got his typical number of K's but he was wilder than I remember from last year.  First game out and he seemed to get better the longer he was out there.  Cedar Rapids is building a strong lineup with Prato, CES, Mack and Gray all with over 1.000 OPS's.  If Soularie and Morales get going that is going to be a tough lineup.

Legumina looked really good the first couple of innings, but  per usual fell apart late. These type of games continue to reinforce my belief that he is a better reliever than starter.  We will see if he gains better stamina as the season moves on.  He has the stuff it is just a matter of how long he can keep it going.

Was hoping Ohl was going to do a little better than he did.  After watching him in one of Seth's interviews he seems like a mentally tough young man.  This is his first taste and I am sure he will get better was just hoping for him to be solid from the get go.

Always important not to make too much of any one start. Remember last year, Gipson-Long started with 3-4 clunkers in Ft. Myers and rebounded very well and I think he can be a big-league pitcher. As for Legumina, yes, he was a reliever in college, and maybe that is where his future will be, but probably needs to build up more. Again, that can be re-evaluated in 6 weeks. 

[Mike Sixel]

What the heck are they doing with Martin? Is he a SS, LF? Now second? I clearly have no idea what the plan is.

[stringer bell]

7 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

What the heck are they doing with Martin? Is he a SS, LF? Now second? I clearly have no idea what the plan is.

Yeah, I'd like to know what the evaluation is and what the plan is. If he can help the team in the next year+, I would think it would be as an outfielder. There are four players for the three infield spots (Arraez, Urshela, Correa and Polanco) and two prospects at AAA (Miranda and Lewis). 

What I am getting is that Martin isn't as close to ready to help this club as I thought. 

[RJA]

Steer really has come into his own the past year or so.  Unfortunately, he plays third, second and short, so his route to the majors is likely going to be tough.  His splits show he hits lefties really well.  Maybe the Twins should give him some reps at first and in the outfield to see if has potential to be a utility player in the bigs.  It will be interesting to see how he does when he is bumped up to St. Paul.

[Seth Stohs]

8 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Yeah, I'd like to know what the evaluation is and what the plan is. If he can help the team in the next year+, I would think it would be as an outfielder. There are four players for the three infield spots (Arraez, Urshela, Correa and Polanco) and two prospects at AAA (Miranda and Lewis). 

What I am getting is that Martin isn't as close to ready to help this club as I thought. 

Maybe they're trying to figure out what he is, and what he can be. I don't think it's SS, but maybe it's 2B. It probably could be CF, but they have one of those. My guess is he'll start playing all over and become an everyday multi-positional player. 

[stringer bell]

1 minute ago, Seth Stohs said:

Maybe they're trying to figure out what he is, and what he can be. I don't think it's SS, but maybe it's 2B. It probably could be CF, but they have one of those. My guess is he'll start playing all over and become an everyday multi-positional player. 

Seth, TD ranked Martin as the #1 prospect in the system. You've seen a lot more of him than I or most of the fan base has. How close do you think Martin is to being a big-league ballplayer? Do you think both Miranda and Lewis are closer? 

[Seth Stohs]

3 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Seth, TD ranked Martin as the #1 prospect in the system. You've seen a lot more of him than I or most of the fan base has. How close do you think Martin is to being a big-league ballplayer? Do you think both Miranda and Lewis are closer? 

Based on what we've seen in a week or so, so far, Yes. First, Miranda and Lewis are on the 40-man roster, so that helps. but they're also hitting fairly well to start the season. Martin has struggled some offensively (nothing worrying) and defensively. 

Do I think Martin could jump up to AAA and play everyday all over the diamond today? Yes. Would he hit? I think he'd be fine. So, it's not like he's far behind those two. 

I think all three of them could play in the big leagues today, if it was needed. Not sure they'd be great, but they could probably hold their own. Miranda's bat is probably furthest along. 

[Major League Ready]

1 hour ago, stringer bell said:

Yeah, I'd like to know what the evaluation is and what the plan is. If he can help the team in the next year+, I would think it would be as an outfielder. There are four players for the three infield spots (Arraez, Urshela, Correa and Polanco) and two prospects at AAA (Miranda and Lewis). 

What I am getting is that Martin isn't as close to ready to help this club as I thought. 

Maybe they think the only way to get his bat in the lineup regularly is to have him fill in for multiple positions.  Just guessing!

[goulik]

It seems this Front Office LOVES players that can play multiple positions. With Miranda, Polanco, Lewis, and Buxton ahead of Martin, position flexibility will come in handy for all of them (See Luis Arraez) even if long term they have a specific position they will end up on all the time (See Buxton and Polanco)

[DJL44]

2 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

What the heck are they doing with Martin? Is he a SS, LF? Now second? I clearly have no idea what the plan is.

He's not a SS. They need to quit that idea.

[Dave The Dastardly]

57 minutes ago, goulik said:

It seems this Front Office LOVES players that can play multiple positions. With Miranda, Polanco, Lewis, and Buxton ahead of Martin, position flexibility will come in handy for all of them (See Luis Arraez) even if long term they have a specific position they will end up on all the time (See Buxton and Polanco)

I'm not enamored about this positional flexibility stuff. These players are "professionals". That means they're experts in their field, not jacks-of-all-trades. Know any surgeons that don't specialize in one area? You know, a heart surgeon doing knee surgery one week, kidney transplants the next day? No, they focus on one area, learn all they can about it, and practice, practice until they can't get it wrong. Find the best position for each player and keep them there.

[operation mindcrime]

Fear the Steer!!!!!